The Irish Catholic Hermit

I n love did He bring the world into existence W hat profundity of richness, what mind and exalted wisdom is God’s. What compassionate kindness and abundant goodness belongs to the Creator!  W ith what purpose and with what love did He create this world and bring it into existence!  W hat a mystery does the coming into being of this creation look towards! To what a state is our common nature invited!  W hat love served to initiate the creation of the world!  T his same love which initiated the act of creation prepared beforehand by another dispensation the things appropriate to adorn the world’s majesty which sprung forth as a result of the might of His love. I n love did He bring the world into existence; in love does He guide it during this its temporal existence; in love is He going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state, and in love will the world be swallowed up in the great mystery of Him who has performed all things; in love will the whole course of th...

L ove Your Fellow Man L ove the poor, that through them you may also find mercy.  D o not keep company with the disputations, lest you be forced to take leave of your calm.  B ear the noisome smells of the sick without disgust, and especially of the poor, since you too are wrapped about with a body.  D o not rebuke those who are afflicted in heart, lest you be scourged with the selfsame rod as theirs: then you will seek consolation and will find none.  D o not disdain those who are deformed from birth, because all of us will go to the grave equally privileged.  L ove sinners, but hate their works; and do not despise them for their faults, lest you be tempted by the same.  R emember that you share the earthly nature of Adam and that you are clothed with his infirmity.  D o not reprove those who are in need of your prayer, and do not withhold tender words of comfort from them, lest they perish and their souls be required of you; but do as the physicians,...

T he Paradoxical Justice of God. T he watchfulness of discernment is superior to every discipline of men accomplished in any way to any degree.  D o not hate the sinner. For we are all laden with guilt. If for the sake of God you are moved to oppose him, weep over him.  W hy do you hate him? Hate his sins and pray for him, that you may imitate Christ Who was not wroth with sinners, but interceded for them.  D o you not see how He wept over Jerusalem? We are mocked by the devil in many instances, so why should we hate the man who is mocked by him who mocks us also?  W hy, O man, do you hate the sinner? Could it be because he is not so righteous as you? But where is your righteousness when you have no love? Why do you not shed tears over him? But you persecute him.  I n ignorance some are moved with anger, presuming themselves to be discerners of the works of sinners. B e a herald of God’s goodness, for God rules over you, unworthy though you are; for although you...

                                              O n   Humility T he iniquitous mouth is stopped during prayer, for the condemnation of the conscience deprives a man of his boldness.  A  good heart joyously sheds tears in prayer.  V oluntary and steadfast endurance of injustice pur ifies the heart.  P atient endurance of injustice springs from disdain for the world; and a man endures calumny cheerfully because his heart has begun to behold the truth.  J oy arising from voluntary endurance of calumny and injustice exalts the heart.  T hey for whom the world is dead submit to contumelies with joy.  B ut they for whom the world still lives cannot submit to injustice: either, moved by vainglory, they are provoked to anger and are troubled, being stirred up in the manner of brutes, or else they are overcome by grief.  O  how di...

  O Lord! Grant us to see our transgressions so that our intellect would be completely drawn to attention to our own sins and stop seeing the sins of our neighbours and, in this way, we would see all our neighbours as good. G rant our hearts to abandon the ruinous attention to the failings of our neighbours, to unite all of our attention to the acquisition of purity and holiness commanded and prepared by You. G rant us to once again whiten our desecrated spiritual garments: they were already cleansed in the waters of baptism, and now they need, after being desecrated, cleansing with tears. G rant us to see, in the light of Your Grace, the multifarious ailments in us that are destroying the heart's spiritual movements and introducing into it carnal movements that are in enmity to the Kingdom of God. G rant us the great gift of repentance that precedes and gives birth to the great gift of seeing one's sins. P rotect us with these great gifts from the chasms of self-del...

M ost holy and eternal Father, your divine Son has taught us that no one can come to Him unless you draw him, and that none shall be lost of those whom you have given Him. I beg of you, therefore, in the name of the mutual love you bear to Him and He to you, to offer me and all whom I love to this divine Son, begotten of you, so that being born again in Him, your Word, we may have a share in the eternal glory which He gives to you, and that we may thus be sanctified in you. E ternal Son, whose holiness is equal to that of the Father, you have promised that “when lifted up from the earth, you would draw all to yourself.” Draw me, then, to you, O well-beloved of my soul, that being fed by you I may live by you, even as you live by your Father. H oly Spirit, who descended upon the Virgin to accomplish the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, come down upon me, O joy of my heart and strength of my soul! Impregnate me, to the end that Jesus Christ may grow in me, so that by your power, ...

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, who didst come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.  A nd I believe that this is truly thine own immaculate Body, and that this is truly thine own precious Blood.  W herefore I pray thee, have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions both voluntary and involuntary, of word and of deed, of knowledge and of ignorance; and make me worthy to partake without condemnation of thine immaculate Mysteries, unto remission of my sins and unto life everlasting. Amen.  O f thy Mystic Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant; for I will not speak of thy Mystery to thine enemies, neither will I give thee a kiss as did Judas; but like the thief will I confess thee:  R emember me, O Lord, in thy Kingdom. Not unto judgement nor unto condemnation be my partaking of thy Holy Mysteries, O Lord, but unto the healing of soul and body.         ...